By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Sept. 16, 2004
Hurricane Ivan is causing havoc with the local sports schedule.
Two high school football games have already been canceled, while two junior college games have been moved to Saturday.
All area prep soccer and softball games scheduled for Thursday have been postponed.
Meridian High School has had its home game with St. Martin postponed and Clarkdale had its road contest at Mercy Cross washed out, while East Central Community College and Jones Junior College have had their games moved from tonight to Saturday.
In addition, Kemper County has moved its home prep football game with Thomastown to Saturday, while several others are waiting until Friday morning to decide what to do.
East Central will play host to Southwest Mississippi in Decatur at 2 p.m. on Saturday, while Jones will travel to Raymond to take on Hinds at 6 p.m.
While MHS and St. Martin may play their non-division game later in the season, it doesn't seem likely due to scheduling conflicts.
Several teams have district games set for Friday night, which must be played at some point.
Games in limbo at presstime were Northeast Lauderdale at Northeast Jones and Newton County at Quitman.
According to reports, the NEL-NEJ contest will be played on Friday if both schools hold classes on Friday. If not, the game will be played on Saturday or Monday.
If Quitman is in school and the field is playable, then the Panthers will host Newton County on Friday. The game could possibly be played on Saturday, but since it is a non-division game, it may not be played if it is not held this weekend.
The West Lauderdale-Choctaw Central, Lamar-Jackson Academy, Newton-Enterprise, CM&I-Newton Academy, Taylorsville-Philadelphia, Edinburg-Union and Louisville-Neshoba games are still set to be played as scheduled.
It is recommended that all area football fans check with the school before attempting to attend a game on Friday night to make sure it has not been postponed.
As of Wednesday, before the effects of Hurricane Ivan began to blow through Lauderdale County, West Lauderdale was still planning to play both Neshoba Central and Clarkdale in softball on Saturday, while Meridian High's game with Wayne County was still on tap as well.
As of presstime Wednesday night, EMCC's Thursday night football game at Itawamba is still set to be played.